Children of the Flames
by skippyskippers
Summary: The gods sacred items are going missing and three demigods are sent out to find them. But what they find is much more shocking than they ever expected. NICO X OC rated T for mild language
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Shadow Jumps at 1AM

It was common knowledge that you don't sneak up on someone in the middle of Manhattan, no matter the hour. But when it was three in the morning, that was an even bigger no, no. Nico Di Angelo just didn't seem to get the point. I was woken up that night to the sound of my apartment door bell buzzing. I grabbed a dagger off of my nightstand went to go answer it. When I pulled the door aside, I saw a boy with jet black hair, equally dark eyes, pale skin, and a frown on his face.

"At least you rang the door bell this time." grumbled, stepping out of the way so he could get inside. He nodded and flopped down on my couch and grabbed the TV remote. I went into my kitchen and started the coffee maker, and grabbed him a bag of chips. I tossed the chips at him and sat down in the chair across from the couch.

"So why the hell're you here so late?" I asked, running a hand over my face, trying to wake myself up. Nico shrugged, flipping the TV channels.

"Thanks for that information Di Angelo, I don't know what I'dve done without it."

He shot me a glare.

"I'm here because Chiron sent me."

I rolled my eyes.

"At one in the morning?"

"Obviously so."

He was either giving me a super shitty excuse, or he was telling me the truth. Unfortunately, the latter seemed to be the most likely option of the two.

"Ok, I'll bite. Why does Chiron want you at my apartment at one in the morning on a Tuesday night?"

Nico sighed, tossing the remote on the ground in defeat.

"Honestly, I have no idea. The only reason he sent me is because I was the most convenient choice. I came back to camp because I needed somewhere to crash for the night. I was halfway back to my cabin when Chiron came up to me, and told me that I needed to get you back to camp as soon as possible. I wasn't too pumped about the idea because I'd already shadow jumped a few too many times, but you're not that far away so I made the trip."

I would have usually made some sort of remark about the last sentence, but I was too caught up on the part about me coming back to camp with Nico.

"Who said I was coming back?"

"Chiron. And before you get all pissed off at me because Chiron didn't call ahead, I just want to clarify the fact that I'm _just _the messenger."

It kind of pissed me off that Chiron didn't call ahead to warn me that I was needed. But then I couldn't think of why they would need me. The fourth of July was way behind us, so my siblings wouldn't need me for the fireworks, and Leo and Nyssa had everything squared away with the vans; I couldn't think of any other reason for me being needed at camp.

"Why aren't we leaving then?" I asked. Nico laced his fingers behind his head.

"Told you, I've already shadow jumped a few too many times tonight. Chiron said that they needed you back as soon as possible, and right now it's not physically possible for me to get you back."

I dropped my head into my hands and groaned.

"Fine. Sleep on the couch. I'm too tired for this anyway." I said, heading out of the living room.

"Coffee's ready when you want it." I called over my shoulder as I headed into my room. I flopped down on my bed and pulled the covers over myself. My body was screaming for sleep, but my mind wasn't giving it. There were a million thoughts racing through my brain, and none of them would shut up long enough for me to get some sleep. I shifted onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, trying to wrap my head around why Chiron would possibly want me back at camp. I had no idea when I finally got to sleep, but I was woken up by a knock at my door.

"C'mon. Time to go." I heard Nico say. I sat up and glanced at the alarm clock on my desk-it was roughly five in the morning.

"Really Di Angelo."

"Really, let's go." he said, gripping a traveler mug of coffee in his hand. He wrapped a hand around my wrist, took a deep breath, and then everything was dark and the wind was racing through my hair. When it was over I was standing outside the Big House, and it wasn't even light out yet. Nico was heading inside, and gestured for me to follow. We met around the ping pong table inside the house. Chiron had fit himself into his wheelchair, and Leo was sitting across from him at the table.

"Morning chica" Leo mumbled, dropping his head onto the table.

"Morning, mi hermano." I said, taking a seat next to him. When Leo first got to camp, it came as a big relief that he spoke Spanish. My mom was from Cuba, and she raised me after my step dad left when I was five. I took his last name, Wilcox, but my mom was insistent that I embrace the latina side of me. Well, she was insistent until she got put into re-hab for the third time and left me alone. But that's a story for another time. I glanced to my left at Nico, who was holding onto his cup of coffee for dear life; his knuckles white from gripping it so hard.

"I'm sorry for the early hour, but this is a topic of the utmost importance and secrecy." Chiron said, folding his hands onto the table.

"There is no easy way to put this, so I'll come out with it. The gods are losing their sacred items. In short, there's a thief within Olympus, or a thief who knows how to get into Olympus easily and undetected. I need you three to get the items back, and find who's taking them. Then you'll return the items to the Empire State Building before you return here. Understood?" he said. The three of us nodded. He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Deedra will be leading the quest, and you leave at in one day." he said, before wheeling himself out of the house, leaving the three of us with wide eyes and confused expressions. I was utterly confused as to why Chiron had chosen me to lead the quest, but there was no arguing. I was now responsible for whether the two boys on either side of me lived or died, and that was something that I didn't rest easy with.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Back Home

It wasn't that I wasn't glad to be back at camp, it was just that I had wanted to return to camp under my own circumstances. After Chiron had dismissed the three of us, Nico, Leo, and I all headed back into our respective cabins. While I was walking back to Cabin Nine, Leo looped an arm around my shoulders.

"It's good to have you back chica." he said, gazing up at the sky.

"It's good to be back."

He gave a small laugh.

"What?" I asked. He shrugged.

"It's just that you don't seem that excited to be back. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're a little upset that you got called back." he said, stopping. I stood across from him and folded my arms across my chest.

"Leo, it's five in the morning."

"Yeah, well, it's written all over your face. Look, I know that it's annoying that Chiron had your best friend come and grab you, but we need you. And frankly, we've missed you."

I pursed my lips. Leo had a point. Ever since I'd found out that I was a demigod, I tried to distance myself from that life. I only came back to camp during the summers, and that was only because my siblings needed my help with the fireworks. I never really thought that they'd miss me this much.

"I'm sorry, I was just-"

"Trying to live a normal life. I get it, I really do, but you're not normal. I know it sounds terrible to say that, but you gotta be careful. Especially because of your ability, our ability." Leo said, cutting me off. I nodded. I knew that he was talking about the fire user ability that we shared. I didn't use it much, mostly because I knew that it would attract monsters every time I used it, and because that I just wanted to be normal. Though Leo had made it very clear to me that I was very far from normal.

"I'll try to come around more often." I said, raking my fingers through my hair. Leo put his arm around my shoulders again.

"Or at least try to embrace the Greek side of you. You don't have to be ashamed of it, you're surrounded by people that understand." he said, kissing my cheek. I smiled. We headed back to our cabin in silence, all the while, Leo's words were circling in my mind. I had always tried to keep the Greek side of myself hidden because I was afraid of it. But if I was going to keep the others alive on this quest, I had to embrace that side of me, whether I liked it or not.

_Nico's POV _

I don't even remember getting to my cabin that night. All I remember was waking up the next morning in my bunk back in Cabin Thirteen. I was bleary and I felt like my limbs were made of concrete. There was a knock at my door. I groaned and rolled over.

"C'mon Di Angelo, get up!"

"Dee, it's like the middle of the night!"

I heard a laugh on the other side of the door.

"Nico, it's nine in the morning."

I sat upright and opened the door. The morning sun flooded my normally dark cabin. I squinted against the light.

"Chiron wanted you up about two hours ago. You already missed breakfast." she said, folding her arms across her chest. I ran my hands down my face, trying to wake myself up.

"I'm sorry" I mumbled, my voice muffled by my hands. She shrugged.

"Not a problem. I just came down here because Chiron wants us training together."

"Together?"

She let out a small laugh.

"Yes together. You, me, and Leo. We haven't ever trained together."

"Who's idea was it?"

"I told you, it was Chiron's."

I shook my head.

"Who's idea was it, really?" I asked. She shot me a glare.

"If you must know, it was mine. I didn't want us going out on this quest, knowing that we'd never fought together before. It was so we didn't get ourselves killed." she said. I nodded. I opened the door all the way so that she could get in and grabbed my shirt off of the floor and pulled it over myself. Deedra sat down on one of the empty bunks.

"You're never here" she remarked, drawing her finger across one of the bunk beds, picking up a line of dust. I nodded, pulling on an old pair of Converse.

"I just never come back here. I'm always just drifting around, I only ever come back here to sleep, and that isn't often." I said, brushing off any feelings of remorse or guilt that I had about the fact that I never came back to camp. To tell the truth, camp always reminded me of all the pain and damage that my past held. It was the place where I'd gotten the worst news of my entire life, and it was where I'd learned of the deaths of friends, and it was a place that held people that were scarred of me. But I wouldn't tell Deedra that, it would break her heart.

"You know that this is a place where people care about you Nico. Don't be so stubborn that you push them away." she said, getting up from the bunk. She crossed the room, but stopped at the doorway, pulling something from her pocket. She taped it up to the wall and it was then that I realized that it was a picture. I looked at it closer and it was a picture of everyone I knew, Hazel, Frank, Piper, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and Deedra. I turned to face her, but her back was to me. Deedra was about to head out of my cabin when she stopped herself, her hands grabbing either side of the door frame.

"Just remember that. Do that for me, ok? Don't forget that there are people that care about you." she said before leaving. I let those words sink in. She was right. There were people that had risked their lives for me, but I couldn't bring myself to think about them. I couldn't bring myself to care about them because it hurt too much. I was so worried that they'd die or be taken from me. I pushed them away because it was easier to do than to be close to someone. But Deedra had slapped me in the face with the realization that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for me to get close to people. I yanked my other shoe on and grabbed my sword as I ran out of the cabin.

"Dee!" I yelled after her. She turned, the sun bouncing off of her brown hair, making her look like she was made of sun.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." I said. She smiled.

"Any time Di Angelo." she said, heading off to the training ring.

"You're 'gonna get your ass kicked Wilcox" I said, letting a smirk come across my lips.

"In your dreams" she said, pushing me lightly. Even with a dangerous quest looming on the horizon of tomorrow, Deedra Wilcox always found a way to make me smile.


End file.
